1 Nephi 9:2

2 And now, as I have spoken concerning these plates, behold they are not the plates upon which I make a full account of the history of my people; for the plates upon which I make a full account of my people I have given the name of Nephi; wherefore, they are called the plates of Nephi, after mine own name; and these plates also are called the plates of Nephi.

There are parts of this large plates/small plates account that confuse me. Obviously this is done to counter an event that would happen over 2500 years later when Martin Harris lost the 116 manuscript pages. I was confused about the content of those pages. The Doctrine and Covenants Institute manual says the 116 pages were from the large plates of Nephi (D&C Student Manual, 1981, p. 23). They were, according to Joseph Smith, an abridgement of the plates of Lehi. So when they were lost, the Lord instructed Joseph to replace them with the unabridged plates of Nephi, which Mormon included somewhere in his abridgement. I just don’t know where they physically were.

• 1 Nephi 19:2
• Words of Mormon 1:2–11
• D&C 10:38–40